Memory Burn

Cream background with black old-fashioned typewriter and event logistical information.

Date and Time

October 20, 2025
05:30PM - 07:00PM EDT

Location

Thompson Room (110), Barker Center

12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Marek Torčík, Poet, Writer, Publicist

Moderators:
Jonathan Bolton, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Veronika Tuckerová, Senior Preceptor in Czech Language, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Marek Torčík (1993) is a Czech poet, novelist, and journalist who lives in Prague. His novel Memory Burn (Rozložíš paměť), an elegantly written exploration of the narrator’s childhood and adolescence in a small Moravian town, is a meditation on memory and the power of words to hurt and heal, a moving portrait of the relationship between a mother and son, as well as a conversation with the writing of Robert Creeley, Viola Fischerová, Anne Carson, Clarice Lispector, and others. What does it mean to unfold or disassemble memory, to lay it out like cards on a table in order to assemble ever new and surprising narratives? The novel received the Jiří Orten Award and the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award for Prose (2024) and was published in English in 2025. 

Co-sponsored by the Rethinking Translation Seminar, Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard

This book tour was supported by the Czech Center New York and CzechLit.

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Accessibility

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Slavic Department at 617-495-4065 or slavic@fas.harvard.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the university will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.